Poppers - how much?

[Paul Arden]

Looks like I might have to tie some flies for guests on other fishing trips. I haven’t tied flies for cash in over 25 years

Surprising that anyone would want to buy my flies, I know

On Gamakatsu hooks. What’s the normal price for something like this? £3.50? More? They’re not fast to tie.

Thanks, Paul

[James9118]

Figure out how many you can tie in an hour, then determine what hourly rate you deserve to pay yourself. Then each fly should be your hourly rate divided by the number of flies/hr. My flies cost £75 each, I don't sell many flies

[Paul Arden]

Yeah that’s one reason why I don’t do it commercially. These flies might only be four flies per hour. Maybe I’ll do some sort of deal for alcohol instead

[Graeme H]

Go with the latter ...

[BobHarry76]

They’d pay at least £4.50-5.50 if they bought them from over here, plus postage. I would always expect to pay a little more for a locally tied fly, although I rarely buy any at all these days.
£5.00-6.00 per fly seems a fair deal.
Gamakatsu’s aren’t cheap, it’s not just the time.

[Paul Arden]

Christ I would never pay that. But of course all the money spent on all the tying materials doesn’t count No doubt I’ve spent far far more! £5 per fly. Yep that’s more reasonable.

Fiddly flies. You really need to adjust them once they are on the leader. Removing lead or adding more foam. Anyway I’ll see if I can tie him half a dozen. A Snakehead fly usually lasts me about a week and even I then I can usually repair them and keep them going so long as the hook is good.

Nice to be living on the water again.

Cheers, Paul

[bebob]

You've done a video for snakehead casting. Why not do a SBS for tying a snakehead popper? I'd think it's much easier to learn to tie a popper than it is to learn the snakehead shot, if your guests can't be arsed learning to tie a fly then any price you ask is justified

[Paul Arden]

Well quite a few of them don’t tie. There is actually a tying in the Big Mamma video.

[media] [/media]

Tying for sale is not something I want to make a habit of. I only tie flies when I absolutely need to Anyway the guys put food on my table and enable me to fish as much as I want so I’m not going to begrudge tying a few extra flies

Besides my flies are magic. They are worth much more than 5 quid.

Cheers, Paul

[flickingfeathers]

Those Vinces poppers should be about 7 quid, stage tied for speed I recon you could bang out 10-15 tail sections in an hour then do all the heads in another hour.
We can sit and do a few this week if you want.

[Paul Arden]

If the Battleship arrives while you are here - which it certainly should - we could have an evening tying some fluff. I’m not sure I’m ready to become a professional fly dresser however. In fact I’m not sure the world is ready either! But 7 quid actually starts to become worthwhile. Especially if my fingers are a blur.

Cheers, Paul